''Gargiya-jyotisha'' (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ''Gārgīya-jyotiṣa''), also known as ''Garga-samhita'' (IAST: ''Garga-saṃhitā''), is a 1st-century Indian Sanskrit-language astrological treatise attributed to Garga. The oldest extant text of the Indian astrology ( jyotiḥśāstra), it is written in form a dialogue between Garga and Kraushtuki.

Date

''Gargiya-jyotisha'' is the oldest extant text of the Indian astrology ( jyotiḥśāstra), composed around 25 CE. ''Mahabharata'' 13.18.25–26 ('' Anushasana Parva'') refers to the 64 divisions of a work of Garga, a description identical to given in the second chapter of the ''Garga-jyotisha''. This suggests that the work was well-known and widely circulated by the time this portion of ''Mahabharata'' was written.

Manuscripts and translations

The name ''Gargiya-jyotisha'' ("

Jyotisha Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...

of Garga") derives from the colophons contained in the text's manuscripts. Mitra-mishra's '' Viramitrodaya'' refers to the text as ''Garga-samhita'', a name shared by other texts. Other names for the text include ''Vṛddha-Garga-saṃhitā'' and ''Vṛddha-Gārgīyā-jyotiṣa-saṃhitā''. The text is available from several manuscripts, now at Asiatic Society (Kolkata),

Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya (IAST: ; formerly Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya and Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi) is an Indian university and institution of higher learning located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, specializing i ...

, National Library of India, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Gangajala Vidyapeeth (Aliyavada), Trinity College (Cambridge), Banaras Hindu University,

Mumbai University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

, and Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute (Alwar). Various scholars have edited and translated parts of these manuscripts: * ''Yugapurāṇa'' (''Aṅga'' 41), edited with an English translation by John Mitchiner (1986) * ''Śukracāra'' (''Aṅga'' 6), translated into English by

David Pingree David Edwin Pingree (January 2, 1933, New Haven, Connecticut – November 11, 2005, Providence, Rhode Island) was an American historian of mathematics in the ancient world. He was a University Professor and Professor of History of Mathematics ...

(1987) * ''Rāṣṭrotpāta-lakṣaṇa'' (''Aṅga'' 39), edited with English and Japanese translations by Koji Kumagai (2007, 2011, 2015) * ''Puruṣa-lakṣaṇa'' / ''Strī-lakṣaṇa'' (''Aṅga'' 48), edited with an English translation in ''The Indian System of Human Marks'' (2016) by Kenneth Zysk

Content

Garga (alias Vṛddha-garga), the author of the text, is considered as one of the most important authors in the jyotisha tradition. The text is in form of a dialogue on astral and other omens between Kraushtuki (called ''rishi-putra'') and Garga. The text contains the following chapters, called ''anga''s (titles in

): # ''Karma-guṇā'' ("Qualities of action"): astrological characters of nakṣatras, tithis, grahas and muhūrtas # ''Candra-mārga'' ("Course of the Moon") # ''Nakṣatra-kendrabha'' ("Appearance of the circle of nakṣatras") # ''Rāhu-cāra'' ("Course of Rāhu") # ''Bṛhaspati-cāra'' ("Course of Jupiter") # ''Śukra-cāra'' ("Course of Venus") # ''Ketu-mālā'' ("Line of Ketu") # ''Śanaiścara-cāra'' ("Course of Saturn") # ''Aṅgāraka-cāra'' ("Course of Mars") # ''Budha-cāra'' ("Course of Mercury") # ''Āditya-cāra'' ("Course of Sun") # ''Agastya-cāra'' ("Course of Agatsya") # ''Antara-cakra'' ("Circle of intermediate region") # ''Mṛga-cakra'' ("Circle of deer") # ''Śva-cakra'' ("Circle of dogs") # ''Vāta-cakra'' ("Circle of wind") # ''Vāstu-vidyā'' ("Knowledge of houses") # ''Aṅga-vidyā'' ("Knowledge of limbs") # ''Vāyasa-vidyā'' ("Knowledge of birds") # ''Svāti-yoga'' ("Conjunction with Svāti") # ''Āṣāḍha-yoga'' ("Conjunction with Āṣāḍha") # ''Rohiṇī-yoga'' ("Conjunction with Rohinī") # ''Janapada-vyūha'' ("Arrangement of countries") # ''Salila'' ("Rainfall") # ''Graha-kośa'' ("Collection of planets") # ''Graha-samāgama'' ("Conjunction of planets") # ''Grahā-mrādakṣiṇyam # ''Graha-yuddha'' ("Opposition of planets") # ''Graha-śṛṅgāṭaka'' ("Configuration of planets") # ''Graha-purāṇa'' ("Purāṇa of planets") # ''Graha-pāka'' ("Effects of the planets") # ''Yātrā'' ("Military astrology") # ''Agni-varṇa'' ("Nature of fire") # ''Senā-vyūha'' ("Array of battle") # ''Mayūra-citra'' ("Variegation of peacock") # ''Bhuvana-puṣkara'' ("Lotus modelof the earth") # ''Balyupahāra'' ("Offering of oblations") # ''Śānti-kalpa'' ("Rules for propitiation") # ''Rāṣṭrotpāta-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs and portents of calamity") # ''Tulā-kośa'' ("Weighing on balance") # '' Yuga-purāṇa'' ("Purāṇa of the yugas") # ''Sarva-bhūtaruta'' ("Cries of all creatures"), . Omens ofvarious birds and animals # ''Vastra-cheda'' ("Tears in clothes") # ''Bṛhaspati-purāṇa'' ("Purāṇa of Jupiter") # ''Indra-dhvaja'' ("Indra’s banner") # ''Aja-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of rams") # ''Kūrma-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of turtoises") # ''Strī-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of women") # ''Gaja-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of elephants") # ''Go-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of cows") # ''Bhārgavasaṃsthāna '' ("Appearance of Venus") # ''Garbha-saṃsthā'' ("Appearance of embryos") # ''Dagārgala'' ("Water-divining") # ''Nirghāta'' ("Natural destructions") # ''Bhūmi-kampa'' ("Earthquakes") # ''Pariveṣa'' ("Halos") # ''Ulkā-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of meteors") # ''Pariveṣa-cakra'' ("Circle of halos") # ''Ṛtu-svabhāva'' ("Nature of seasons") # ''Sandhyā-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of twilight") # ''Ulkā-lakṣaṇa'' ("Signs of meteors") # ''Nakṣatra-puruṣa-kośa '' ("Compendium on nakṣatra-man")

References

Bibliography

* * * {{refend 1st-century texts Sanskrit texts Indian astronomy texts